On February 8, 2008, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that execution by electric chair is "cruel and unusual" punishment and therefore prohibited by the Nebraska Constitution. In State v. Mata, an appeal by convicted murderer Raymond Mata Jr. against his 2000 death sentence, the court upheld the death sentence and stayed the execution, finding that since unconsciousness and death are not instantaneous, many condemned prisoners will consciously suffer when electrocuted.



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